Home grown stuffed peppers a la the slow cooker.

After doing a short blog on the virtues of growing peppers, I got my act in gear and decided to make up a batch of stuffed peppers via the slow cooker. Normally, I would normally use the kind of peppers you find at the market which are thicker walled than the ones I grow in my backyard. However, I’ve never been one to not experiment, so here goes. Since the peppers are also mostly odd shaped and don’t want to stand in the slow cooker, I cut up a couple of potatoes to help support them. A bonus as it turned out.

Ingredients:

6 bell peppers, 2 banana peppers
1/2 pound ground beef
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
2 potatoes, Russet or similar, washed and chopped
1/4 cup uncooked instant rice
3 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 tablespoon chopped onion
1/3 tsp oregano powder
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Set the slower cooker to high heat. Remove the tops and de-seed the peppers. Set these aside. Prepared the rice according to package directions, allow to cool and then mix with the meat, ½ the tomato sauce, beaten egg, oregano, Worcestershire and ½ the shredded cheese. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Stuff the mixture into each pepper and place them in the slow cooker. Chop the potatoes up into large pieces and add to the pot. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over the tops of the stuffed peppers. Sprinkle the remained shredded cheese over the tops of the peppers. Cover, turn to low setting and cook for 6 to 8 hours or until done. Serves 4.

Notes: All of the veggies, and even the egg, were of the home grown variety (my neighbor’s mom has a farm). For ground beef, I used the cheapest cut I could find.I also added a little fresh and dried basil (about a teaspoon) to the mix towards the end. Hey, when you got it, flaunt it! I decided to cook the instant rice (brown) rather than use it as it came out of the box. Your call. The peppers were ready sooner than I thought. Probably due to the thinner walls.

The meal (don't let the picture fool you), turned out nicely as you can see.Even though the peppers had thin skins, they held up well. My home grown potatoes turned out perfect! Another nice thing is that this dish will hold for a day or two in the fridge. For many years, I used to take one or two of these peppers to work for lunch. A quick nuke job in the microwave and they would be ready to go. Oh, and yes, I saved the seeds from all those peppers!